• SnausagesinaBlanket
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    10210 months ago

    Japan’s current fiber-optic commercial internet connections use optical fiber transmission windows known as L and C multi-core fiber (MCF) bands to transport data long distances at record speeds. Meanwhile we (USA) have fiber back to copper and Cat3 for the last few hundred feet in most cities at best making the entire idea into a bottle neck.

    • falsem
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      1710 months ago

      There are a lot of very good reasons to switch back to copper for the last portion of a run. I highly doubt that consumer internet in Japan is terminating fiber directly into peoples’ computers. Fiber is a lot more expensive both for the line, to run it, more prone to breakage, the network cards are more expensive, etc. It’s really not needed for most purposes.

      Also no one uses cat3 for data and it can’t be run for ‘hundreds of feet’. And LC fiber IS used in the US - that’s a kind of connector not the kind of fiber.

      • Dave.
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        10 months ago

        I highly doubt that consumer internet in Japan is terminating fiber directly into peoples’ computers.

        You run fiber to the home and gigabit ethernet or whatever internally in the premises. All your other complaints re: cost and etc aren’t really an issue for last mile consumer grade fiber.

        I have seen installers run a fiber drop cable across from a power pole, bring it down an outside wall , then staple it to joists under a house, cleave off the end and stick a mechanical splice on it, bang it in the power meter, all good, plug it in the fiber modem, good to go in less than 20 minutes. All this stuff uses standard components and technology that’s been available for 10+ years now.

        Also no one uses cat3 for data and it can’t be run for ‘hundreds of feet’. And LC fiber IS used in the US - that’s a kind of connector not the kind of fiber

        It’s probably the standard “last mile” half assed solution where they decide to use existing phone lines and VDSL from a box down the street instead of biting the bullet and running fiber.

        • Tippon
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          910 months ago

          This is how it works in the UK too. I’ve got Fibre To The Premises (FTTP), and the installation was pretty much exactly as you described.

        • SnausagesinaBlanket
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          010 months ago

          It’s probably the standard “last mile” half assed solution where they decide to use existing phone lines and VDSL from a box down the street instead of biting the bullet and running fiber.

          This is common in Upstate NY Cities. In fact Earth Link still owns some of the dark fiber and backbones.

      • TheMurphy
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        810 months ago

        This is like arguing that SMS is still a good messaging platform.

        • falsem
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          10 months ago

          No it’s not? Fiber is a bad solution for short runs for residential use inside people’s homes. Copper can pull 10 gig speeds or more.

          • TheMurphy
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            110 months ago

            Well, almost all apartments in the city I live in has fiber. They all have a box in a corner somewhere.

            Then we pull a standard ethernet cable to our router and we run full speed.

            Maybe I’m not knowledgeable enough on the area, but why is that bad?

            • Fushuan [he/him]
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              210 months ago

              They are arguing that inside the nlhouse ople don’t use fiber, they use the ethernet copper cable from the router. Which is like, fine, okay, that’s true, but also not at all what people are arguing and not something that should be required to be pointed out in this context.

              People are arguing that in some US cities the Internet distribution is done through copper for the whole building/complex, and just like you, in my home there’s a fiber port into my router, which then I use cat7 copper cables for my stuff. But up until my router there’s fiber, which is awesome.

              Anyway I hope this clarifies it.

      • tiredofsametab
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        210 months ago

        Typing from my Tokyo fiber-to-the-home connection now. They ran it off the pole, installed a little thing in my house, ran the fiber to the modem they make me rent, and it works like a charm.

        • falsem
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          -210 months ago

          Yeah, it’s not terminated in your computer though for all the reasons I said.

          • tiredofsametab
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            210 months ago

            I don’t think I understand unless you’re expecting me to buy some router and network cards that natively support fiber to go from the modem (which is fiber in from the pole outside).

      • TheMurphy
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        110 months ago

        Yes, but nowhere compared to the Netherlands and Denmark

        Ofc the size of the countries makes it easier.

    • key
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      910 months ago

      Cat3? As in most cities in the US are limited to 10mbps?

      • @Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
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        10 months ago

        No, the average internet download speed in the United State is about 171 Mbps. Though disclaimer, I’m not sure of the exact reliability of that number, different sources are reporting quite a range of speeds, though I don’t see any under 100 Mbps average and I see many reporting well above this. You’d also have to consider median vs average since people with fiber sitting at gigabit speeds may be dragging that number up, median may be lower.

        https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/fastest-slowest-internet

        There are certainly some areas, especially rural, that struggle though. And upload speed is often much worse unless you have fiber. Major cities are definitely getting much better than 10 Mbps down though.

        • Dave.
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          910 months ago

          Cat 3 is a thing and is basically unshielded twisted pair. You can abuse it quite a bit from its voice grade days to cram a few hundred megabits of VDSL over it if it’s only from your house to the curb.